Will a Furnace Work Without a Thermostat?

Troubleshooting Furnace & Thermostat Issues

Your thermostat is a crucial piece of the HVAC puzzle in your home. It helps regulate temperature and helps prolong the life of your heating and cooling units by conserving your system’s energy.

So how do you know that it’s really your thermostat that has a problem and not your heating system? And can you even use your heater without a thermostat? We’ll answer those questions and give you a few tips on troubleshooting your thermostat.

Will Your Furnace Work Without a Thermostat?

Technically yes, your furnace can work without a thermostat. Furnaces are designed to operate independently of a thermostat, but the thermostat is an additional device that helps regulate when the system turns on and off.

This also depends on the fuel used for your furnace system. If your power is out and you have an electric furnace, you won’t be able to use it even if the thermostat works fine.

How To Test if Your Thermostat Is Synced Up With Your Furnace

You can start by looking back at your unit’s history. If you recently had a furnace repair or tune-up, odds are the thermostat and furnace are running fine. If you don’t hear any strange noises or smell strange odors near the system, that’s also a sign that the thermostat is to blame.

You can test if your thermostat is reading correctly by using a probe or infrared thermometer and comparing the readings. They may not exactly match, but they should be pretty close.

You can also suspect a thermostat issue if communication is off with your furnace. The furnace may click on the wrong temperature, you may hear the fan running even when it’s turned off, or the temperature setting changes without you doing it.

These are all signs that you need your thermostat connection looked at by a professional.